As the Internet has become a dominant force in our everyday lives and employees have gained access to it and email on a regular basis, cyberslacking, also known as goldbricking, or wasting time playing on the computer at work, has become a real concern for white collar employers.

Add to this the concept of multishirking, doing two or more non-work related activities at once or the negative equivalent of multitasking, and employers could have their hands full.

Aside from the obvious loss of productivity, there are very real issues of security from hackers and viruses along with the concern over sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuits that might stem from inappropriate and offensive e-mails circulating within a company.

Many firms have found ways around cyberslacking  by employing surveillance software to track Internet activity or installing proxy services to prevent programs from accessing certain resources such as webmail, online gambling & porn sites.

An additional preventative measure is to have a clearly defined and communicated policy in place that describes what is and isn’t allowed and the consequences of violation of the policy.

Of course, we all need to be prepared for the potential backlash from employees who have their cyberslacking challenged.

Observers feel they may react by countering that monitoring is illegal and contrary to their Fourth Amendments rights. They’d be wrong, as it only applies to government, not private, action.

So maybe they’ll try the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986. However, the ECPA allows companies who maintain electronic systems for the normal conduct of their business to intercept any communications on their systems.

Finally, if an employee’s vice is online gambling they might attempt protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA). Fortunately for employers, compulsive gambling is specifically exempted from the definition. Though if your organization has an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), you may want to suggest they avail themselves.

Whether it’s cyberslacking, goldbricking, multishirking or anything else that causes a loss of productivity or a possible breach in security, as technology continues to advance, staying abreast of change remains a concern for all employers.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 14th, 2007 at 10:35 am and is filed under Company Culture, Performance Management, Employee Relations. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will appear immediately, but I reserve the right to delete innapropriate comments.